The present invention relates to a mouthguard for use in athletics and more particularly, to a mouthguard that can temporarily be stored by a user on their clothes or apparatus.
Mouthguards have been developed and sold for several years for protecting the mouth and teeth of an athlete from injuries that may result from impact collisions and blows during athletic competition. Mouthguards have been used in several contact sports including football, basketball, ice hockey, soccer and lacrosse where collisions between players are common. Mouthguards generally consist of a somewhat U-shaped device that fits around the upper and lower teeth of the user and are historically categorized as custom fit or non-custom fit. Custom fit mouthguards generally provide better protection for athletes, but are expensive and require a dentist for proper fabrication and fitting. Non-custom fit mouthguards are designed to fit generally for most users and are commonly used, however, these mouthguards are often inadequate for various reasons such as improper fit, uncomfortable teeth and jaw positioning, and a lack of temporary storability which can lead to a risk of infection. In particular, athletes typically remove mouthguards during breaks in athletic competition and carry their mouthguard in their hands and then reinsert it into their mouth immediately before athletic competition resumes. Holding a mouthguard in the user's hand can lead to germs coming into contact with the mouthguard before it is placed back into the user's mouth.
To address concerns such as storability and essentially the risk of infection, various mouthguards have been designed with a strap or a tether attached to the front of the mouth guard on a tab. For example, in football, mouthguards with straps connected to the face mask of a football helmet have been designed and utilized. Such a design eliminates the problem of having to carry a mouthguard in the user's hand or squeezing it into a portion of a football helmet for temporary storage because the mouthguard hangs down from the helmet when it is not used. However, while solving one problem, this strap design presents a possibly even greater problem. During the violent collisions which occur when football is played, a player's helmet is sometimes knocked off. If the player is using the mouthguard and the helmet is knocked off the player's head, the player's teeth can be severely damaged or knocked out depending upon the force exerted on the mouthguard from the impact to the helmet. Straps and tethers also present other problems for athletes. Players prefer not to have a loose, dangling mouthguard tethered to their helmet as the loose movement of the mouthguard is annoying or uncomfortable. Players also find straps and tethers unfavorable as they can limit the range of motion for the athlete as they move their heads in different positions.
Accordingly, a need exists for a mouthguard that properly fits with the teeth and jaw of a user to provide protection to the mouth and teeth of the user while also reducing the likelihood of contamination or loss during periods of non-use.